The feature of the product that I find the most beneficial for data warehousing tasks is the use of the tool for extracting and loading purposes, which depends upon the connector's availability. Many connectors in Informatica are not free or out of the box, and you have to purchase them. The tool has quality connectors.
I haven't used the tool for real-time data analytics, but I have used it in my company for batch-oriented purposes. Data integration will not be supported in real-time in Informatica Cloud Data Integration. For real-time data integration, you have to go with either the application integration or other products like Informatica PowerExchange.
In Informatica Cloud Data Integration, the transformation feature was almost the same as that of Informatica PowerCenter. In Informatica Cloud Data Integration, the transformation features may offer a couple of more functionalities.
In terms of the ease of learning that the product provides, I would say that those who have experience with Informatica PowerCenter can easily adopt Informatica Cloud Data Integration. A person who has worked on Informatica Cloud Data Integration may not be comfortable with Informatica PowerCenter. In terms of ease of use, I consider Informatica PowerCenter to be easier than Informatica Cloud Data Integration.
I rate the ease of use experience attached to the tool a six out of ten.
Only after considering the use cases of people can I recommend the product to them. If a person only wants a product for extraction and loading purposes, then I feel that there are many cheap products in the market that can satisfy their needs. Suppose someone is looking at a tool that offers widespread features, like application integration and real-time functionalities. In that case, all of it comes under Informatica, which can be a good option.
The tool is the most expensive one compared to any of the other products in the market, especially in terms of ETL functionalities or integration features.
My company has integrated SAP, many databases, and APIs into Informatica Cloud Data Integration.
I can see that the performance of the product keeps improving with every new release, especially in the area of job executions, even though the hardware may be the same.
I rate the tool a seven out of ten.